Govt orders GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based chat app Bitchat

Home ministry’s cybercrime arm, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, has ordered Microsoft subsidiary GitHub to remove Bluetooth-based messaging application Bitchat, according to a notice.

“The Government of India does not like technologies like Bitchat and wants it taken down,” said the app’s developer and former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on Friday in an X post, sharing a copy of the notice dated July 23.

A query sent to I4C in this regard elicited no immediate reply.

In its notice, I4C said that the app enables communication even during network restrictions and creates a substantial risk of misuse by anti-national elements, terrorist organisations, organised criminal



groups and cyber criminals seeking to evade lawful detection and continue communication despite legally imposed restrictions.

While giving reference to Bitchat, I4C said that the content hosted or published by the GitHub intermediary platform is prohibited by law or being used to commit an unlawful act I4C said that it has identified multiple applications as communication platforms capable of establishing decentralised peer-to-peer messaging over Bluetooth mesh networks without relying on mobile networks, internet connectivity, or centralised servers.

“The application enables anonymous communication without mandatory user registration, phone number verification, or centralised logging of communications.